New solar energy projects can take a long time to be approved, built, and connected to the grid. Some recent federal efforts that aim to accelerate project development have shown mixed results.
The federal government has set the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by midcentury. Building a cleaner electric grid—replacing electricity that is generated by fossil fuels with electricity generated by renewable energy sources, like wind and solar—is a vital part of realizing these goals. Building a cleaner grid also will require a lot of construction, which needs to happen quickly to meet the climate goals for 2030 and midcentury.
The build-out of these projects has been slowed by the processes for permitting and approving renewable energy projects to comply with state and federal regulations, which has elevated the discussion of permitting reform to the national stage. Among the various steps, the required review process for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has become a key concern. NEPA was signed into law in 1970 and requires federal agencies to evaluate the potential environmental effects of federal projects. In a working paper I published with coauthors last year, we investigated the NEPA review process, with a focus on large solar projects.
Reviewing the Reviews: The National Environmental Policy Act
NEPA was passed during a period of heightened attention on environmental issues in the United States. The law established an environmental review process for federal projects that may have “significant environmental impacts.” These types of federal projects are funded, regulated, or organized by the federal government—or they are proposed by a firm or a state, local, or Tribal government and require federal approval or funding. The review process does not apply to fully privately funded projects on private land. NEPA also established the Council on Environmental Quality, which is responsible for implementation of the law across the federal government.
The heart of the review process mandated by NEPA is the environmental impact statement. This statement is completed by a federal agency and serves as a comprehensive study of the environmental effects of a project. Ultimately, environmental impact statements aim to provide information to public officials and the general public; these required statements ensure that the potential consequences of a project receive a hard look. An environmental impact statement includes a description of the proposed project and the affected areas; the reasons the project is necessary; benefits of completing the project; and an analysis of the environmental effects of the project, including adverse effects and any irreversible commitments of natural resources. A statement also must include reasonable alternatives to the project that would have a smaller effect on the environment. Notably, NEPA does not require a particular outcome, nor that an alternative with a potentially smaller effect on the environment will be chosen; the law simply requires the review process.
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4.5 years
average time needed to complete an environmental impact statement between 2010 and 2018
NEPA can pose a substantial burden for public officials and project developers, given the time and labor involved in conducting an environmental impact statement. The Council on Environmental Quality found in 2020 that, between 2010 and 2018, the average time to complete a statement was 4.5 years, while some major infrastructure projects took longer than 10 years. Lawmakers have pushed to tweak the NEPA review process in recent years to reduce delays in project approvals. Most recently, Congress included a provision in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a spending bill that became law in June 2023, that directs the Council on Environmental Quality to modify NEPA to streamline the review process. The provision includes page limits on environmental impact statements, along with a two-year time limit on their completion. However, most of the changes to NEPA simply codify current practice that has been established through regulations and court decisions.
Observers expect NEPA to continue receiving attention both from policymakers who want to accelerate the clean energy transition and from others who want to green-light new fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Long Road to Operationality
In a working paper that I published recently with colleagues Andre Bellefontaine, Lindsay Rich Steinmetz, Valkyrie Buffa, and David Storment, we examined the review process of NEPA. We identified 28 solar projects that underwent an environmental impact statement in compliance with federal law, spanning from 2009 to 2021 (Figure 1). We believe that these 28 projects comprise almost all the utility-scale solar projects for which an environmental impact statement was completed over this period. These NEPA projects account for less than 10 percent of the utility-scale solar projects that reached operational status in this period; most solar projects are located on state or private land and don’t need to undergo the NEPA review process.
Figure 1. Solar Projects That Completed Environmental Impact Statements Mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act between 2009 and 2021
A “notice of intent” is a public announcement of a forthcoming review under the National Environmental Policy Act with information about how the public can participate in the process. A “record of decision” explains the decision an agency has made following the review process, any alternatives to the project that the agency considered, and how the agency plans to mitigate and monitor the environmental impacts that may result from a project.
On average, environmental impact statements for the 28 projects took around 2.5 years—over 2 years less than the average time (4.5 years) for all environmental impact statements across all federal agencies. Our working paper shows that two-thirds of the projects completed the formal NEPA review process within 2 years (light blue bars)—a deadline adopted in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
However, for more than half of the projects, a total of 7–10 years elapsed between the initial application for development and the beginning of operation. The yellow and white bars in Figure 1 indicate delays in reaching operation after the completion of the NEPA review process. Additionally, 5 projects never reached operational status; the red framed bars in Figure 1 indicate these projects.
We also evaluated 18 projects that completed an environmental assessment (a less demanding review process than the environmental impact statement) over the same time period. Of the projects for which we have data, assessments were completed in 1 year or less for one-third of the projects and within 2 years for another one-third of the projects.
A variety of factors contributed to these delays, which often occurred before or after formal NEPA review. The formal NEPA review is sandwiched between the time spent revising a submitted project application and the time when developers engage in the final steps that lead to operationality (building the solar facility, ensuring that the facility meets the permitting requirements, and connecting to the electric grid). The launch of the formal NEPA review process begins with the publication of a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
In several cases, formal NEPA review began more than two years after the initial application and involved a preliminary stage of refining and modifying the application. These modifications included shifts from concentrated solar technology to photovoltaic technology, changes in ownership, and reductions to the planned production capacity and acreage of a project in response to concerns raised by federal agencies. The lengthy delays after some formal NEPA reviews also may reflect difficulties that developers encountered in securing agreements to sell power to utilities and connect to the electric grid. Further research would help facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons for delays that follow NEPA reviews.
Speeding Up Solar Development on Public Lands in the West
Some agencies have more influence than others over the development of renewable energy projects, given the distribution of authority across federal agencies. For example, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for much of the public land in the western United States and was the lead agency responsible for three-fourths of the environmental impact statements for the solar facilities in our sample.
The BLM received more than 150 applications for solar projects following the passage of a federal law in 2005 that established the goal of siting at least 10,000 megawatts on public lands by 2015. In response, the US Department of the Interior and the BLM have implemented several initiatives to try to expedite the review of applications for these leases. But available data indicate that the initiatives have had limited success, and developers continue to report delays in the BLM’s approval of leases.
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The Western Solar Plan, which launched in 2012, was one of the agency’s major initiatives. The BLM identified 19 sections of public land in 6 southwestern states as suitable for solar projects. The agency determined that solar projects in these areas, known as solar energy zones, would be easy to connect to transmission lines for transporting electricity and have limited adverse social and environmental effects.
Implementation of the Western Solar Plan has proven to be complicated. The BLM took another four years to complete policy actions related to the plan, and the change in administration in 2017 resulted in further delays to the approval of new solar facilities. Under the Trump administration, the BLM reviewed past policy decisions about the broader use of public lands in the Southwest and issues that were specific to solar development in the region. By December 2021, only two solar facilities were approved and operating in solar energy zones under the provisions of the plan.
The intent of the Western Solar Plan was for the agency to streamline the NEPA review process for individual solar projects by tying their approvals to prior NEPA reviews of earlier steps in the leasing process, such as the creation of broader land use plans and the designation of solar energy zones. However, additional measures, terms, and conditions to reduce potential environmental impacts could be identified through a final confirmation process, and the implementation of these measures would be required before the BLM allows the project to proceed.
Further, this approach has been vulnerable to delays that occur when the BLM carries out the procedures required for leasing parcels in the solar energy zones. Steps in this leasing process include completing necessary studies and evaluating the site, soliciting interest in parcels, providing notice about and conducting a competitive bidding process for the lease, and confirming that the selected developer’s plan aligns with the preapproved parameters for the use of the parcel. Notably, the BLM has discretion over the timing of these steps.
Observations and Considerations for Future Policy
Our review of the first 10 years of the Western Solar Plan has yielded several observations and considerations for solar permitting, perhaps suggesting some best practices for future policies.
First, the implementation of the plan involves several key steps. The delay associated with these steps has slowed the development of solar projects in the solar energy zones. Given the flexibility and discretion that are embedded in the leasing process for public lands, siting solar facilities on public lands probably won’t get significantly faster, even with the presumptive deadlines for formal NEPA reviews in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Accelerating the development of solar energy facilities and other clean energy projects is imperative if the nation wants to meet US goals for reducing emissions.
Second, interest has been limited in the land that lies in the original solar energy zones. Apart from some of the parcels in Nevada, parcels of land in these zones have received no bids or low bids from developers. Whether the agency’s selection of land reflects the most attractive locations for solar projects from the perspective of developers remains unclear. However, developers have proposed and received approval for projects outside solar energy zones in these southwestern states. If the BLM wants to promote project development on public lands, then the agency should consider facilitating more projects in areas outside solar energy zones.
Finally, the size of several solar energy zones is enough to accommodate only a single utility-scale solar project. Significant resources and time are required to designate an area as suitable for renewable energy development, and to take the additional steps to make the land available for auction. If the BLM wants to expand the areas that are designated as suitable for renewable energy development, then the agency should prioritize larger areas that could accommodate multiple utility-scale projects.
Looking Forward
The nation already may be behind schedule for reducing emissions from the power sector, compared to what analysts projected when the Inflation Reduction Act became law in 2022. Accelerating the development of solar energy facilities and other clean energy projects is imperative if the nation wants to meet US goals for reducing emissions. If policymakers want to speed up the energy transition, then NEPA reviews and other permitting processes deserve a careful look.
A version of this article appeared in print in the Spring 2024 issue of Resources magazine.
